Pottery Barn

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Pottery barn... if only they shipped to the UK. I occassionally like to have a wee peep to see what I would buy- usually the most delicate of glass or home decor.... never practical for transporting. My Mum occassionally goes to the States with work and I would love to give her a big list of items to buy but she wouldn't be able to get them back!!

So I just have to make do with daydreaming and looking through their website.

My current dream is for a future study- a dream I also share with another of the bloggers that I follow.

I love white furniture and ADORE this organizer which I could have on my wall.  The rails for the paper and the ribbon are brilliant and would be the perfect place to store holiday wrapping. Maybe one day Pottery Barn will do UK delivery!

 

Weekend

I had a lovely family orientated weekend. On Saturday evening I met up with my Dad and Sister after they had been to watch the Scotland Fiji game. Becky's friend Kyle Traynor was making his debut for Scotland so they were there to cheer him on.

I had loads of errands to do so couldn't go but had a great time catching up with them over dinner at Pizza Express.I decided since I had already been for dinner to the Pizza Express in Leith with Hannah earlier in the week I would try something different and a little better for me... so I had one of their pizzas with a hole out the middle with salad in the centre instead. It was really delicious and I was happy with my meal- until I ate my salad (which I had saved until near the end) and I found a slug/worm/catepillar type creature on my plate!! yuck! To be fair they were really good about it and had me fill out a report form and gave us a discount on our meal but I guess the salad was a little fresher than both the restuarant and I imagined!

My Dad and Sister were on great form and we had a good chance to catch up as my Dad had been down in London staying with my Mum and working for a few days.

 

On Sunday Nathan and I did a big house clean and then I went into town with Becky to buy a few pressies for people's birthdays etc. We went into Jenners and they had their real Christmas tree in store already!!! It was very pretty although Becky and I were worried that had brown branches already!!

 

 Becky in Jenners.

 

 We also found a lovely cute new shop on Hanover Street. I Love Candy.

 

"Old fashioned sweeties galore! I Love Candy is a sweetie shop with a twist, specialising in sweets from days gone by and Scottish favourites too. We have searched high and low for all the tuck shop favourites and our stores are crammed full of as many different kinds of sweets as we can fit in from wham bars to wispas, bon bons to chocolate bananas, soor plooms to supersize lollies. We also have a super handmade range of vintage scottish treats like tablet, macaroon and fudge, along with the delightfully indulgent cupcakes we have baked fresh for us.

We have stores in Glasgow and Edinburgh. If you dont live nearby, you poor souls, fear not, we do have an online store and we will post our super sweeties out to you."

 

I love their pink and white branding and the shop is well laid out... we were going to treat ourselves but decided to be good- I have a feeling we will be back though! We opted for Starbucks instead- Although I am not sure a Gingerbread latte had much less calories!!

Baking for Erskine

TUESDAY

On Tuesday evening I went down to my Grandma's and we spent the evening baking. She has just got a new oven and wasn't too sure how to use it. It is much simplier than her old oven but we thought we'd have a practice.

We made fairy cakes for my Grandma's coffee morning in her sheltered housing. My Grandma used to bake alot and I remember her making shortbread and fairy cakes and scones when I was younger. It was so nice to spend the evening with her.

 

 The Fairy Cakes in the oven.

I also made the Hummingbird Bakery Brownie that I have made before. This was for a bake sale we were having at work for our nominated charity- Erskine. Founded in 1916, Erskine has provided nursing and medical care for former members of our Armed Forces through two world wars and the more recent conflicts. As it was Remembrance Day on Wednesday our office held a tea party on the Barge (our boat on the river where we have our conference room) They invited members of the local community along as well as staff who all bought lots of baked goods and bought raffle tickets too.

.

 

 We had a good giggle as I caught my Grandma licking the spoon of the chocolate brownie mix!

 

 WEDNESDAY

 

 They had lots of poster up from the time of the 2nd world war including lots of Dig for Victory Advertising!

 

 Loads of people from the office had baked. Kirsty and I on my team went over and had a wee coffee break with a sample of some other peoples baking- so tasty!

 

In the foreground of the photo you can see my giant chocolate brownie- it was selling for 50p a slice and was all gone when they brought the remaining cakes over to the office the next day- they sold them off for 20p each to all the staff.... so I felt like I'd been eating cakes for days by the end of last week!

 

The Barge was all done up in bunting!

Time Out

This past week was a little bit crazy. My boss was on holiday so I was left to hold down the fort! It was very high paced but we got there in the end.

I was also really keen to catch up with friends over the week as I am so concious that I haven't seen some great friends in ages- everyone, inlcuding myself has been so busy with work.

On Monday I met Herc for lunch and it was so lovely to see her. We got lunch from Marks and Spencer and then sat on the top floor at Ocean Terminal. It was so scenic.

On Thursday I also met up with Hannah at Pizza Express and after having not meet up in a while we sat there for 3 1/2 hours! We had a good catch up!.. and tasty pizza!

I miss my friends when we can't make time. It always cheers me up and make me smile when I have caught up on a friends news and heard all about their life.

I hope that next year after a year of working in my job I will be able to manage work life balance a bit more so I don't feel like I am losing out.

Benji's 30th Birthday

Nathan's friend from school Benji celebrated turing 30 this past weekend.

Benji and his wife Catriona held a great house party at their beautiful flat and as ever were amazing hosts. Catriona also gave a great speech which included a fantastic slide show of pictures of Benji throughout his life. Her theme was the 3 Benji's- sensible Ben, Outdoor/sporty Ben and Party Ben- if I remember correctly- (you'll have to correct me if not Catriona!) The photos showed Benji growing into his role as a surgeon and being ever the proffessional. Then there were lots of mountain shots of him climbing and then lots of party shots with a few of him always zonking out and falling asleep! It was a great speech!

 

Benji blowing out the candle on his cake. 

 

 Phillipa (Catriona's sister) Catriona, Me and Nathan (with his Movember moustache- nice!)

 

Phillipa (Catriona's sister) Catriona, Me and Benji and Catriona's housemate-

 

 Sinead, Ian, Nathan and I

 

 I must have taken this photo at the end of the evening before we left at 4am!!

 

And true to form 'Party Ben' was put to bed when he feel asleep!

Saturday Day

On Saturday I was off to another pre match lunch at the rugby club, which Jason had kindly invited us to. This time there were only three of us ladies... I wish I'd got a photo. I forget each time. Our duties were limited to the lunch raffle which seemed easier this time.

After the lunch I watched the firsts play at Raeburn and my Dad came along to watch the match too. We had a warming coffee on the side lines (it was so cold) and caught up. After half time I ventured up to Newfield on my bike to watch Nathan play for the 2's. Sadly both teams lost and this really is the start of winter!- how many more games of the season are there?

After the 2's game finished Nathan's Mum and Dad who were also watching at Newfield kindly treated us to afternoon tea and scone at the new Botanical building, John Hope Gateway across the road from the playing fields. It was lovely. Although in their cafe/restuarant you have to have something to eat and can't just order a drink! Therefore I had to have a scone with clotted cream and jam! oops!

Sarah Thomson's Baby Shower

My sister has a great group of friends that she met through work. They are so lovely and I was lucky enough to be asked by my sister to join them for a wee Baby Shower Becky was hosting in honour of Sarah. 

 

Becky had bought lots of lovely decorations from the states and had decorated the whole flat. 

 

 Her cupcakes looked amazing and since we don't know what Baby Thomson will be everything was blue, pink and yellow!

 

 

 Amy, Tina and I (I had cycled home from work so didn't look quite so glam as everyone else!)

 

Sarah opening her gifts. 

 

 

 I loved the balloons and bunting.

 

 

Usually Becky cooks up a storm in the kitchen but we decided this time that pizza was the way to go- for a Friday night after we had all had a long working week it was a welcome treat! We also had a few tasty sweet treats including Becky's cupcakes and amazing chocolate mousse that she had made from scratch!

 

 The lovely group of girls (minus Amber- who was there in spirit and made the most amazing baby shower book- filled with games and guesses!) Tina, Sarah, Becky, Sarah CW and Amy.

Movember!

As you will see from Nathan's lovely picture, he is in the process of growing a rather delightful moustache for Movember 2009 - http://www.movember.com/ 

 

Movember is about bringing the moustache back and having some fun for a very serious cause - prostate cancer. Now in its third year, it seems to have grown (excuse the pun) this year- there are many guys in my office who are sporting various amounts of fluff on their upper lip!

I am not sure how I am going to cope with the Tom Sellek look for the rest of November... sorry- Movember!

Please support Nathan's growth by donating to the Prostate Cancer Charity - http://www.prostate-cancer.org.uk/ - on his work Just Giving page here - http://www.justgiving.com/KPI-Recruitment

My Birthday continues....

When I came into the office on Tuesday morning my boss had a lovely gift for me of a cook book to make desserts and I had a lovely card signed by everyone!

I was then taken out for my lunch by one of my suppliers who I have previously worked for- her and I get on really well and she even had a wee gift for me and had flowers sent to my office! So sweet!

When I returned to the office in the afternoon they had fizz and cake for me. The coffee and walnut cake was made by Clare, who I sit next too. It was delicious and I loved the way she laid out the walnuts to create a 30. They brought in the cake and everyone sang me Happy Birthday- slightly embarrassing but it was welcomed none the less!!

It was so lovely that everyone went to such an effort!

Birthday Fireworks

As the fireworks Nathan had planned for the Sunday night never happened ,due to the weather we waited to see what Monday's weather would bring and it was clear- hooray! So Nathan and I text a couple of people to see if they wanted to meet us down at the rugby clubhouse and we bought some bottles of fizz and made it a wee celebration.

 

 Corinne, Hillary and I

 

 The Accies Girls- Loreen, Vicki, Emily, Leona, Me and Wendy

 

 Connor and Hills

 

 Becky and Dougie- all wrapped up in their winter woolies!

 

 The Catherine Wheel

 

 Fireworks went off on the ground, in the air and all around us. The boys did a great job and Nathan's fireworks were huge- bursting over the whole of Stockbridge.

 

Leona and Matt

 

Sparklers a plenty! I don't look like I', having a good time at all- do I? ;-)

 

All the girlies with our sparklers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best bit was setting off the chinese lanterns/ sky lanterns. I don't know where Nathan got them but here is a website that sells them to give you an idea. They were beautiful. Nathan had got me 3- one for each decade and as I lit them I was told to make a wish. They went so high and it was great fun that so many of our friends were involved in the lanterns being set off. We watched them go for miles and miles- and worryingly into the flight path- oops!(no one or objects were harmed though!)

 

Dougie, Becky, Conor and Hillary

 

Arnie and Loreen

 

Stu and Vicki

Becky and I

What an amazing birthday I had and I appreciated so much all the effort that everyone went to- from London with my Mum, sister and friends, Halloween with the girls, lunch with family hosted by Becky and South Queensferry with Nathan and finally an amazing fireworks night with friends... I couldn't have asked for a better and more fulfilling celebration of my 30th birthday! Thank you one and all!